Czech President Waves Fake Gun Marked 'For Journalists'

A few months ago, Milos Zeman was caught telling Russia’s Vladimir Putin that journalists should be killed.

Czech President Milos Zeman casts his vote in parliamentary elections at a polling station in Prague, Czech Republic October 20, 2017.

Milos Zeman, the controversial president of the Czech Republic, has come under fire for brandishing what local news outlets described as a replica AK-47 inscribed with the words "for journalists" at a Friday press conference.

A closer look shows that Zeman's fake weapon — which he'd recently been gifted during a visit to the Czech region of Plzeň — had a bottle of Czech liqueur in place of a magazine.

Zeman told the reporters that he did not "want to provoke" by showing off the novelty gun. "Do not be afraid," he said, according to local news outlet Echo24, "the [magazine] is a bottle of Becherovka."

This has prompted some observers to speculate that Zeman was merely joking and not making a serious threat.

Context is important! He received it as a joke gift, and the ammunition is a bottle of local bitter. https://t.co/ML6eYb1tlk

Zeman has shown distaste for the press on multiple occasions. According to The New York Times, he's previously referred to reporters as "manure" and "hyenas." In May, cameras captured him telling Russian President Vladimir Putin that there were "too many journalists" and that there was a need to "liquidate" them.